Product reviews for Settling Your Child in School

Today as accelerated learning becomes more acceptable and more widely practised, the number of books appearing on the shelves stating the principles of what it takes to learn is increasing. All are valid in that each author has a different way of explaining the principles. I do not have children, so being asked to review this book, at first glance seemed to be quite a challenge. However, on paging through the book, I found myself as the adult pondering on some of the criteria presented in the book to be quite a journey. It covers things like “make sure your child knows the basics” to developing listening skills which will let the child become a competent self sustaining adult in the years ahead. I found the section on different learning styles just as fascinating as I always do, and wondered how much better the world would be if parents were able to begin to recognise their child's learning styles as they entered the educational system and were more actively able to support the child in academic learning. However, perhaps what I found to a gem in this book is the author's understanding of life skills ” active listening, learning to focus on the glass half full instead of the glass half empty, being able to relate to other people ” and how essential these are for a person to feel fulfilled no matter what the academic achievements are. It presents an interesting thought doesn't it? What if we were to change the educational system and focus on developing essential life skills like reading, writing, verbal communication (listening, comprehension, asking suitable questions, social graces/manners), social manners (greetings, handshakes, opening of doors, pulling back of chairs, telephone manner), anger management, stress management, financial intelligence, goal setting, conversing in two to three languages etc for the first seven years of any child's schooling and then begin to focus on academic studies ” how different this world would be! So for parents who truly care about being an active participant in your child's welfare both in life skills and helping your child to develop the true meaning of education ” this is a cute book with some very valuable advice!